By Justin Malone, Staff Writer

Xavier men’s and women’s swim teams both took home first place in last weekend’s Butler Double Dual Invitational, highlighted by a combined 13 event victories, 31 top-three finishes and a 9-0 record in head-to-head matchups at the meet. 

The outstanding performances by both the men’s and women’s teams in the tournament allowed them to capture their first invitational win of the season in a rousing way.

On the women’s side, several members of the team dominantly swept the 200m freestyle event, with sophomore Charlie Ramey racing her way to the victory in 1:55.40. Junior Clara Keiser and sophomore Alexis Worrall took second and third, respectively. 

Junior Kali Fischer won the 200m backstroke, with senior Hannah Pugh finishing second. Fischer and Pugh were also members of the 200m medley relay team that earned a second-place finish, along with senior Julianne Libler and freshman Olivia Oyster. 

Also showcasing the team’s efforts were Oyster, achieving her own victory in the 50m freestyle, sophomore Molly Dynda placing second, Pugh picking up first in the 200m individual medley, junior Kate Lair taking third and senior Claire Bosse winning the 100m freestyle. 

The women’s team finished the day 5-0 in head-to-head matchups, soundly outscoring their opponents 699.5-298.5. 

For the men’s team, senior Andrew Martin won both the 1000m freestyle and the 500m freestyle, senior John Bernard earned a first-place finish in the 200m individual medley and freshman Aidan Leamer flew to a victory in the 200m butterfly. 

In dramatic fashion, freshman Kyle Hudson and senior Ethan Wing exhilaratingly tied for first in the 100m freestyle, with both athletes posting a finish time of 47.16. Hudson also took first in the 200m freestyle. 

Bernard, Leamer, along with sophomores Ethan Saunders and Gage Hannewyk, finished first in the 200m medley relay, the first men’s event of the day. The 400m freestyle relay team of Saunders, Hudson, Hannewyk and Martin also took home first, with another Xavier relay team finishing second. 

In head-to-head matches, the men’s team also went undefeated, going 4-0 and beating their foes 557-245. 

Xavier swimming will be gliding off this momentum next week at their next tournament in Louisville on Friday at 3 pm.